FCD's Nick Walker & Josema Bazan take advantage of off weekend to take rare visits home

FRISCO - For all FCD players and staff, the extended weekend off after Wednesay's LHUSOC win over Carolina meant a well-deserved escape from the pitch and two of FCD's own took the opportunity to take exotic trips back home.

Rookie defender Nick Walker went back to his homeland of Trinidad for two days, the first time he’s been since there he was drafted back in February. Although his trip was short-lived, he was able to do the things he wanted.

“I tried to squeeze in a lot of things family-wise, it was nice,” Walker said.

Assistant coach Josema Bazan went back to Argentina for a total of 12 days, his first time back home since January. Of course, there was a little tournament called the World Cup taking place in South America at the time and when that was brought up, it was clear the two had very different experiences while they were home.

“We watched on a big screen on the beach," said Walker. "It was a good time. Most of my friends were rooting for Germany.”

For Bazan, a native of Cordoba, Argentina, there really couldn't have been a better time to be back home.

“In my town in Argentina, everyone watched the game in their own house and then afterwards we all go outside," said Bazan. "But for the final I watched it alone in my house here”

Trinidad may not have been in the World Cup like Bazan’s was, but Walker said that soccer is big in the country no matter what and everybody has their own teams they root for.

Bazan played for the Argentinian U-20 national team and, although he doesn’t personally know anyone that’s on the current senior team, there was someone in the World Cup he knows very well: Colombia National Team coach Jose Pekerman, who Bazan played for at the youth level.

“He was the one who took me from a small town to Buenos Aires to play professional,” he said. “He and I were very close.”